Google+ Hangouts on Air live broadcasting is now out of beta

Google is rolling out its live video broadcasting feature to Google+ users.

Google+ users can now broadcast live public video feeds and video conferences via webcams through its Hangouts on Air feature, which was previously only available to a select number of accounts. Google announced today that Hangouts on Air is now out of beta and will be rolled out to all of its users worldwide.

Google implemented videoconferencing via its Hangouts feature when it released Google+, though at the time the broadcasting was limited to those users who were joining in the video conference (there’s a limit to 10 per session). Hangouts on Air now lets users broadcast their own version of a television channel publicly. The application provides similar functionality to competing services such as UStream, Livestream, and Justin.tv by opening video webcam streams for public viewing. In Hangouts on Air, anyone can watch a video session. Google+ is also encouraging users to browse and casually join these hangouts via Google+’s revamped hangouts page, where users can find sessions that are currently taking place. Live broadcasts are automatically recorded to the host user’s YouTube channel for later viewing or embedding. Users can also embed their live broadcasts on other websites, effectively expanding the reach of the Google+ platform beyond registered users of its service.

Hangouts on Air does require users to enable the new feature, and they must also review and agree to its terms of service. Doing so will also link the user’s Google+ account to their YouTube channel. In some cases, users may also need to upgrade Google’s voice and video plugin for Web browsers. Google says the feature is rolling out to users starting today, so it may take some time to see it enabled in users’ individual accounts.

I went out Saturday with a couple friends and actually hung out. The video resolution was unbelievable and the audio codec loss-less. Granted it took 10 minutes of driving to make the connection but it was totally worth it go get out of mom's basement.

I went out Saturday with a couple friends and actually hung out. The video resolution was unbelievable and the audio codec loss-less. Granted it took 10 minutes of driving to make the connection but it was totally worth it go get out of mom's basement.

Seriously, kids need to get out more. [/snark]

I hung out with a couple of friends over the weekend, because they live in different states. I have friends in different states because I'm not a contrarian who is (oddly enough) posting on a web forum.

I went out Saturday with a couple friends and actually hung out. The video resolution was unbelievable and the audio codec loss-less. Granted it took 10 minutes of driving to make the connection but it was totally worth it go get out of mom's basement.

Seriously, kids need to get out more. [/snark]

I'm in New Hampshire. I did a hangout with my aunt in Illinois, a cousin in California and another cousin in Switzerland (he's now in Egypt), all talking together. If we didn't get out more, we wouldn't need Google Hangouts!

The problem with hangouts is that it publicly announces who you've "hung out" with everytime and there doesn't appear to be a way to shut this off or limit who can see it, which is just stupid.

From a personal perspective, this is a privacy invasion--why is it everyone's business who I communicated with? Even Facebook doesn't publish every person who sends me a private message. I don't publish my inbox headers or my cell phone call log.

This is really terrible for businesses, as I don't want our confidential meetings with clients, prospects, or anyone else that I meet with published out for all to see.

LOVE the technology, but until this issue (that I can't believe has gone unchecked) is addressed, it's a showstopper for me.

The only reason I can think that it's there (with no way to turn it off) is to make sure everyone sees that you're using it and encourages others to try it. Great for them, but at great personal harm to me. Thanks Google, so much for privacy.

I actually like the twitch channels, which are mostly gaming and require additional capture software.

Does G+ Hangouts Air support that? If not, they are limiting themselves to non-gamer channels.

Does Air let the channel owners play commercials? If not, they are limiting themselves out of market completely. To quote Joker, "If you're good at something, never do it for free." The good channels support themselves by playing commercials.

If G+ doesn't offer that, than it really has no path to success, it's just twitter in video format. Equally useless.

The problem with hangouts is that it publicly announces who you've "hung out" with everytime and there doesn't appear to be a way to shut this off or limit who can see it, which is just stupid.

From a personal perspective, this is a privacy invasion--why is it everyone's business who I communicated with? Even Facebook doesn't publish every person who sends me a private message. I don't publish my inbox headers or my cell phone call log.

This is really terrible for businesses, as I don't want our confidential meetings with clients, prospects, or anyone else that I meet with published out for all to see.

LOVE the technology, but until this issue (that I can't believe has gone unchecked) is addressed, it's a showstopper for me.

The only reason I can think that it's there (with no way to turn it off) is to make sure everyone sees that you're using it and encourages others to try it. Great for them, but at great personal harm to me. Thanks Google, so much for privacy.

Are you certain about this? The sharing information on the post says "Limited", and it looks to me like it's only shared with the people you originally invited, whether or not they joined. Which seems reasonable.

You registered a new account just to post this? You probably had to go sit behind a proxy as well. Ars must truly mean a lot to you to go through this whole effort. Maybe it would be better put to use to educate yourself ...

You registered a new account just to post this? You probably had to go sit behind a proxy as well. Ars must truly mean a lot to you to go through this whole effort. Maybe it would be better put to use to educate yourself ...

By looking at the number of comments in this thread, samuraidrive may not be too far off from reality.

Google is becoming a pain in the butt those of us who don't want everything under one account.Browser sandboxing help, but on a broader view, I am looking forward to the end of "give-up-privacy-for-free-software" age.

I'm working with the vendor that provides the background technology for this. Their use of H.264SVC and some adaptive scaling algorithms they have invented are incredible. True VC/VCaaS is basically here, now. Using a hybrid model of this technology and a startup virtual MCU service means I can connect Skype callers, Lync callers, Google video chat callers, H.323 callers, and CTS/TIP callers into an internal pseudo-multicast service seamlessly. It's actually quite amazing.

The problem with hangouts is that it publicly announces who you've "hung out" with everytime and there doesn't appear to be a way to shut this off or limit who can see it, which is just stupid.

From a personal perspective, this is a privacy invasion--why is it everyone's business who I communicated with? Even Facebook doesn't publish every person who sends me a private message. I don't publish my inbox headers or my cell phone call log.

This is really terrible for businesses, as I don't want our confidential meetings with clients, prospects, or anyone else that I meet with published out for all to see.

LOVE the technology, but until this issue (that I can't believe has gone unchecked) is addressed, it's a showstopper for me.

The only reason I can think that it's there (with no way to turn it off) is to make sure everyone sees that you're using it and encourages others to try it. Great for them, but at great personal harm to me. Thanks Google, so much for privacy.

This is incorrect. If you have a Limited Hangout, only you and the people who you Hung out with will see that notification on their stream. You'll be the only person who can see it in your own profile (and the people who you hung out with) but you can also delete that notification.

Cesar Torres / Cesar is the Social Editor at Ars Technica. His areas of expertise are in online communities, human-computer interaction, usability, and e-reader technology. Cesar lives in New York City.